Patinformatics is the application of informatics methods to provide the solution to the patent information and the analysis related problems. Although this term was introduced only a few years ago, but its applications can be in a wide range of scientific and business related fields. Method and techniques of different origins have now merged into one discipline that is full of interesting and informative activities. This paper primarily focuses on presenting a general overview of patinformatics and their application in business and various scientific fields including chemicals and pharmaceuticals with special reference to India. Although all the areas of science and technology can benefit from patinformatics methods, still there are many challenging patent information and analysis related problems waiting for solutions through further development of patinformatics.